Bloodline

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"That's the thirteenth one," I sighed, plopping down on a bench and looking down at the list I'd made of all the warehouses we'd checked in the area.

So far, they were all dead ends. Nothing, but duds owned by private companies or branches of small companies. I didn't quite understand it, but it didn't matter because none of them belonged to the Mother and none of them housed my brother.

It'd been two days since I arrived in Atlantis and I was still empty handed.

"We still have three more," Keros assured me as he took a seat beside me, leaning forward with his arms on his knees, "Don't surrender now. We're so close." I looked at him, wondering where that optimism came from, how he could have more hope than I did about the situation.

Gods, thank fuck for Keros, I found myself thinking as I watched the way the sunlight hit his dark hair, highlighting the lighter strands whipped into his ponytail. He was a godsend. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have had a starting point. Without him, I would probably be wandering the streets aimlessly, lost and confused. Thanks to him, we had some kind of lead, vague though it was, and I even had a place to stay.

The past couple nights I'd been sleeping in Keros's room. I felt bad booting him out and onto the sofa downstairs, but he assured me it was fine and he was comfortable on the sofa bed downstairs. I expected Blaine to put up a fuss the second night, but he was surprisingly supportive of me sticking around and was thrilled to have an extra mouth to feed.

"I need someone around here who appreciates my food," he told me that morning, "This family doesn't give a shit what I do for them."

"That's a lie," Keros snorted, "I appreciate you."

"I appreciate you more," Holly challenged. Keros glared at her and Ayo snorted a laugh, choking on his omelette while Cerberus just burst out laughing.

Once again I felt that helpless hunger for more domesticity, for normalcy, and I wanted to share it with Thirteen so badly I ached inside. It only ruined the sensation of family for me. I couldn't feel comfortable, couldn't feel safe, until Thirteen was back at my side.

Until then, I felt like a piece of me was missing.

"Let's take a lunch break," Keros said, sitting up now and turning to face me, "Maybe a break will give us an opportunity to step back and re-examine the situation." I nodded solemnly and rose to my feet, following Keros down the street and back into the city. It was a short walk back and immediately we were met with the sounds and sights and smells of the city. From the sweet floral scent of the jungle to the smell of warm bread and sizzling meats, from screeching monkeys and the rustling of leaves in the wind to voices everywhere, music playing from shops.

It was still such a shock to compare this place to the compound.

This place was exotic and fun and exciting. The compound was so sterile and staunch, rigid. Even outside the compound, there was an air of falseness. Like, even the landscape was nothing more than a backdrop built by the Mother to make us think the world was at peace because of our work. When the world outside was so much more than just silence and the colors black and white. The real world was a rainbow of activity all the time. Things were always happening, always moving, always alive.

I loved it here. Despite the ridiculous heat, which wasn't so bad now that I'd caught onto the attire of tank tops and shorts, Atlantis was a true wonderland of life. There were so many different kinds of food to try, so many words I had yet to learn, so many mannerisms. Things like spicy curries, the word for romance, which was miarosnia, and the fact that people kissed each other on the cheek here like it was no big fucking deal when back at the compound that'd get you punched in the throat. There was just so much to learn, so much to see and do. I loved the idea of life from being in Atlantis. The ability to explore everything and learn new things. I wanted more of it.